Are there new and improved tools for cervical cancer screening? In this video, Dr. Joshua Cohen explores the latest advancements in screening, highlights the powerful role of HPV vaccination in preventing cervical cancer, and explains the key symptoms that should prompt you to seek medical care.
Dr. Joshua G. Cohen is a board-certified gynecologic oncologist and Medical Director of the Gynecologic Cancer Program at the City of Hope Orange County. Learn more about Dr. Cohen.
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Transcript
Katherine:
Dr. Cohen, how is research improving early detection or screening options for cervical cancer?
Dr. Josh Cohen:
I think the most important thing there is vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate. And if you’re someone who has kids – my kids are 11 now – or if you’re someone who’s not been vaccinated under the age of 45, HPV vaccination very clearly prevents the vast majority of cervical cancer.
So, that’s the first thing. Prevention is the best approach. Secondarily, we now have screening tests that you don’t necessarily have to go to an OB-GYN or office for an exam. We know that most cervical cancer is driven by human papillomavirus. Eighty percent of the population in this country’s been exposed to HPV on some level.
There are over 100 strains, and there are now self-collection kits at home where you could potentially do an HPV swab at home – of the cervix – and send it in for a test to see if you test positive. If you do, that means you really likely should see an OB-GYN or your primary care doctor for further evaluation. And so, I think these are new modalities that allow you access to care that you may not otherwise see if you’re not going to go in for a GYN exam or perhaps you don’t have the means or the ability to go in to see a primary care doctor.
But we know that HPV’s a very important part of this, in addition to pap smears, which we’ve been doing for years. In the recurrent setting, there is some new data coming out about circulating tumor DNA or ctDNA. This is experimental. It needs to still be studied, but we are starting to use certain, basically, blood tests that can potentially identify if a cancer has come back, and those tests may or may not be better than standard imaging and physical exam. The data is early, but there is new emerging data about the use of some of these technologies that involve ctDNA.
Katherine:
How could access to pap and HPV testing be improved?
Dr. Josh Cohen:
Well, I think, unfortunately, we live in a country where insurance is important. And if you’re someone who doesn’t have healthcare insurance, I would say please seek out organizations that may offer free screening where you live, and there websites you can go to for this. But as I mentioned before, even doing a home self-collection kit with HPV swabs or doing, perhaps, a screen of your healthcare symptoms with a nurse practitioner or an urgent care doctor can be very important.
An example is if you’re having abnormal bleeding, or bleeding with sexual activity, or new vaginal discharge that’s not going away, or new pelvic pain that’s not going away, or new changes to how you have bowel movements or empty your bladder, that’s concerning and that’s something that should be evaluated. It may not mean that you have cervical cancer, but it could mean something else is going on with your body, and you really should seek care at that time.